Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
An online training and support package to better manage food allergies in Victorian Children.

MCRI will develop innovative curriculum material for online training and clinical decision support for Victorian paediatricians around the management of food allergies. This will enable them to develop an effective secondary care model to improve access, consistency and outcomes for food allergies. It will also contribute to the professional development of Victorian paediatricians.

Grant Received $30,000

About Care Givers Pty Ltd
A Social Media Platform for Caregivers

ACG will develop a social media platform to provide customised information technology tools to enhance the Caregiver’s quality of life, going beyond the standard medical locus of information on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment options to include lifestyle and social interaction domains. The tools will be focused on providing the caregiver with timely information from reputable sources and access to the relevant community in a simple and private manner, uniquely and deliberately targeted towards the needs of the caregiver.

Grant Received $30,000

International Social Service Australia
In the Best Interests of the Child.

Many Australian-based organisations confront issues of international child rights and protection on a daily basis, including those working with children, families, refugees / asylum seekers, migrants, and bi-national families. These agencies include non-government organisations (NGOs), government departments, educational institutions and businesses, and a large portion of these are based in Victoria. However, there is currently little specific training on international child rights and protection available to such groups. A range of stakeholders are aware of this and acknowledge that capacity building is very much needed. ISS Australia will develop an innovative curriculum that can be accessed online by cross-sector practitioners from their workplace. The online training will include training on child rights and protection, a simple explanation of the law, practical applications, up-to-date referral agency details, and information on ISS Australia’s services.

Grant Received $30,000

Monash University
Carer Coaching: An online education program that promotes the health of carers of school aged children with a disability in Victoria

The government estimates that 66% of Australia’s 2.6 million carers are women, and many care for a child with special needs. Evidence indicates that long-term caring can have negative repercussions—financial, maternal mental health, family relationships and welfare of siblings. Depression, anxiety, and prolonged extreme stress are more common among mothers who are carers. This initiative aims to produce an innovative and interactive education package for carers. The design of the website includes use of an interactive learning management system (LMS) that will allow mediation of discussion boards during set interactions with field experts (i.e. women's health expert).

Grant Received $30,000

Monash University
On-Line Mentoring of Graduate Teachers

The Department of Education in Victoria has instituted an in-school mentoring and induction program for new graduate teachers. The pilot used an innovative online mentoring and support system for primary teacher graduates from the same institution with trusted and experienced academics through an on-line Web 2.0 presence using the services of www.NING.com. This new project is to be expanded to include groups of early years, primary and secondary graduates together with groups of highly experienced and successful teacher mentors around Victoria.

Grant Received $30,000

Museum Victoria
The Expositron App – Episode 1 ‘Babble-On’

Museum Victoria will develop a mobile application (app) allowing children and families to engage with the collections and exhibitions in a fun and meaningful way. The app will act as an ‘interpreter’ for museum objects, allowing each object to tell its story, in a playful twist on traditional museum interpretation. This model of interaction for young learners in museums is something that does not already exist.

Grant Received $30,000

Victoria University
Trustworthy Technology Exchanges: An Intergenerational Samoan Australian Social Media Project.

Victoria University will develop a process by which a community can create and distribute trusted content whilst gaining professional development about how to access and develop ICT projects. Within this project, ‘Trustworthy Technology Exchanges: An Intergenerational Samoan Australian Social Media Project’, will design trusted and culturally appropriate ICT video messages created in conjunction with members of the Samoan community in Melbourne’s west. Via a series of guided and mediated workshops, based on ethnographic methods, older members of a community will create video messages concerning lifestyle and community issues that are of importance to the community, and how they feel technology can be used to improve their access to information online.

Grant Received $19,000

Women with Disabilities Victoria - Healthy Services, Healthy Women: making health care relevant to women with disabilities

The project will engage young women with disabilities using film to explore creative methods of educating health professionals, challenge stereotypes about women with disabilities, and encourage health professionals to look at disability within a social context rather than a traditional medical model.

Grant Received $30,000

GippsTAFE (Central Gippsland Institute of TAFE) Mitigating Bushfire Risk through Mobile Training of Electrical Asset Inspectors

This project will develop and pilot a new model of training that responds to the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission findings and the subsequent demand from industry for Electrical Asset Inspection training. This is a new training area with small numbers of learners spread across a wide geographic area. The proposed solution will be innovative, engaging, interactive and facilitated, that capitalises on the use of new/emerging web 2.0 technologies. Using mobile devices, in particular smart phone technologies/applications the solution will engage learners in a practical sense providing meaningful relevant learning experiences.

Grant Received $20,000